Suffrage in Stitches: The Exhibition

546 Makers, 300 metres long, 500 fabrics, 27000 individual hand stitches.

A new exhibition is opening at Wellington Museum on Friday 2-31 August 2019. The work, called Suffrage in Stitches, matches the length of the original petition and consists of 546 individually designed fabric panels (number of pages in the original petition) telling the stories of those who signed the petition or relatives who’ve influenced the 546 makers.

The work includes the names of 546 women and over 27,000 hand-stitched marks, one for each signature on the petition, along with multiple surface decoration techniques.

Artists are NZ citizens or residents; with only a handful being professional artists who have been creating the exhibition in workshops since September last year to honour the ‘ordinary’ woman and men who signed the 1893 Suffrage petition. The project has provided a platform for people of all abilities and backgrounds to meet and create.

St Vincent de Paul's Vinnies Re Sew began its workshops at Wellington Museum in September last year. View an article in Stuff about the project.

Enjoy the first hanging of this astounding fabric artwork at Wellington Museum, in partnership with Vinnies Re Sew, and stitched by many to commemorate the Suffrage Petition and celebrating women’s stories past, present and future.